ACCOUNTING OFFICER STATEMENT

It gives me great pleasure to present an Annual Performance Plan which is aligned to the reviewed Strategic Plan of the institute. The Annual Performance Plan is in line with the functional shift to national competency which is expected to be effective from 01 April 2023. The revisions are informed by inputs from our Internal Auditors the, the refinement of our outputs, indicators, and targets as well as a focus on monitoring and evaluation thereof for financial year 2023/2024.

FCAFTI is expected to align its programmes to the Agriculture, Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP), 2022. This will be done by focusing on those skills training programme identified by various sectors. FCAFTI will be central in the provision of comprehensive agricultural support to smallholder producers in various corridors in the Eastern Cape in line with AAMP. At a pilot phase special attention will be given to small holder producers at Amahlathi and Raymond Mhlaba Municipality.

Furthermore, FCAFTI will broaden its education and training products and services offerings in line with the renewed mandate of Higher Education Colleges. The scope of FCAFTI informed by the transformation agenda of the Department of Higher Education and Training include:
> Provisioning of professional programmes in niche areas and skills development
> Focus on undergraduate teaching and learning in a limited cognate fields or domains of study and offer both the “soft” and “hard” skills.
> Offer a range of qualifications, with no less than 60% being on Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF)mainly leading to:
   o Higher Certificates (Occupational and vocational)
   o Advanced certificates
   o Diplomas
   o Advanced Diplomas
   o Bachelor’s degrees
   o Short Skills programmes that are intended to support specific industry related skills needs.

 
The strategic focus of FCAFTI in the next five years will be:

1. To establish a Centre for Entrepreneurship, Incubation and Rural development (CEIRD) as Non-Profit Company of FCAFTI.
2. Set up a vertical integrated livestock, grains, horticulture, agro-processing, and forestry value chains.
3. Revamp and revitalize the Institute physical and biological assets through the establishment of strategic partnerships and implementation of joint ventures using the PPP model
4. Introduce new programmes in the field of natural resources management and agro-processing.
5. Embark on a purposeful rural industrialization initiative in partnership with local municipalities.
6. Develop and implement a human resources strategy that focus on talent management and retention of scarce and critical skills.

On behalf of the Executive Management, I would like to thank the Council under the Chairpersonship of Dr Pumezo Lupuwana, Managers at various levels, teaching and administrative staff, organized labour and the Student Representative Council for open and frank engagements during my first 100 days in office. We will work as a collective together with our social and industry partners in realizing the targets set in the AAMP, 2022 and the National Development Strategy, 2030.


Mr. M. Mankazana
Principal and Chief Executive Officer
29 March 2023